Sown

forty-three

[Do not play Mystic Messenger if you want a decent sleep schedule]

-

The fact that Naruto had arrived, even briefly, meant that the kage's plans were falling apart. Kakashi had explained the plan to her multiple times before the war had started and even then she hadn't been able to completely etch the full picture into her mind - either the hours of love making had knocked something loose in her brain or she really was as simple minded as Tatsui always teased her for being. Nevertheless, one thing had managed to stick ; do not let the enemy get their hands on Naruto Uzumaki and Killer B. They played a critical role in what they were fighting for, one of the sole reasons, in fact. And now there he was, at least part of him, holding Kimimaro long enough for the Sealing Team to get him under control.

Chiyo had gone much easier, not able to put up much of a fight once her impromptu puppet had been forcefully stripped from her. She tried to take another living soldier as a replacement, but the struggle of fighting and trying to gain control of a living human had proved to be too much for the aged woman. Something about the finally peaceful expression on her face told the masses that she wasn't too sad to be going once again. Kimimaro, putting up more of a fight, finally relented with a similar look on his face, eyes cast blankly outward.

Hanae felt a scrape against her boot, jumping rather forcefully at the contact. Assuming it to be another attack, she was quite shocked to find a thin sprout of ivory poking out of the ground beside where she stood. The organic material was twisted and dulled, rounder in shape than the barrage they had been struck with the past two days. Snapping the stem as gently as possible, she raised the bone to find it shaped into something crudely familiar. "It's a peace lily," she murmured, twirling the object in her gloved fingers.

Tatsui took notice right away. "Did you really get a gift after all that?" He laid his arm over her shoulders, steading his sister's weakened figure. She wouldn't admit to it but he could see the slightest sway in her stance. "How did he even know it was you?"

"Maybe he could just sense good intentions. I have that effect on people." She tapped the faux floral against his helmet, the soft responding ring surprising the both of them. It was like a music note, not what one would expect from bone on metal.

"Guess you got a new boyfriend, huh?"

Hanae gasped, hurriedly stuffing the lily in the sturdy pouch tucked beneath the hollow cavity of her chest armor. She wormed away from Tatsui's grip and shuffled through the crowd of people until she came face to face with Naruto. Panting and no longer cloaked in chakra, he flopped down onto the cracked soil he had just been pinning Kimimaro to. "Naruto," she drew his attention, kneeling down to be eye level. Kankuro made his way to the pair just steps behind, reaching them when Hanae pulled her helmet off. "How is everyone else? We haven't heard anything after nightfall."

"Are Gaara and Temari okay?" Kankuro added nervously.

Naruto looked between the two of them, eyes wandering past where many others turned expectantly to hear what he had to say. The blonde crossed his arms as if in thought, forehead scrunching further the more times passed. "There are a bunch of those white things everywhere," he finally spoke. "Everyone's freaked out, but I'm doing my best to get rid of them. The other kage just joined Gaara out in the desert. Kakashi sensei and Eyebrow sensei are with me - that mask guy is there too, and so are all the bijuu. Madara just showed up with Gaara and the others."

"Did you say Madara Uchiha is in the battle as well as the masked one?" Mifune hurriedly demanded. He forced his way through the crowd that had gathered. Samurai bowed their heads as he passed, shinobi instead nodding their head in respect. Hanae excused herself seeing she had no role in this conversation.